Five Generations of computers

From Vacuum tubes to Artificial Intelligence

By
Zaigham Qadeer
18-Arid-4720
Five Generations of computers

First Generation of Computers

The basis of first-generation computers was laid out by two scientists Mauchly
and Echert of Census Department of United States in 1947. They developed first
Universal Automatic Computer “UNIVAC”. They were based on vacuum tubes.
Which produced a lot of heat and consumed
a lot of energy. Era 1940-1956
They used ‘machine language’. These
computers were very limited and they could
only solve one problem at a time. Their
input was based on paper tape and punched
cards. Their output came out on a print.
ENIVAC and UNIVAC-1 are some of its
examples.

Advantages
 This was the most modern
technology of the time.
 It laid out basis of successor
electronic digital computers.
 These computers were capable
of calculating lot of data in
milliseconds.
 They showed their results in
printed form.
Vacuum tubes based Computer
Disadvantages
 They had limited programming
capabilities.
 Due to use of magnetic drums
they had less data storage.
 These computers had very large
size.
 Due to large size they
consumed a large amount of
energy.
 These vacuum tubes caused
heating issues.
 Air conditioning was required
for their cooling.
 They had very slow speed.

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 Five Generations of computers

Examples

ENIAC 1 Computer
UNIVAC Computer at the
Census Bureau.
IBM 100 Vacuum tubes

Second Generation of Computers

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Five Generations of computers

It was time for replacement of vacuum tubes. These vacuum tubes were
replaced by transistors, in this way 2nd generation of computers came into being. It
was a big improvement over the vacuum tubes, despite they still produced a lot of
heat and consumed a lot of energy, still they
were better than first generation of Era 1955-1964
computers.
The cryptic binary language was now
evolved to symbolic language. This made the
creation of instructions in words possible.
New programming languages; such as
COBOL and FORTRAN were being
developed. At beginning these computers
were developed for atomic energy industry.
IBM 7094 series, IBM 1400 series and
CDC 164 were some of 2nd generation IBM 7090 console
computers.

Advantages  They were smaller in size and

reliable as compared to 1st
generation computers.
 They were first computers to
store instructions and
commands into their memories.
 They had magnetic core
technology, on contrary
vacuum-based computers had
magnetic drum technology. It
made easy to store memory.
 They used less energy and as
compared to 1st generation
computers they were not heated
soon.

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 Five Generations of computers

 A cooling system was still

Disadvantages required for them.
 Due to large size their
commercial production was
difficult.
 Their use was limited for
specific purposes.
 Due to large size and costly
transistors their price was very
high and they were not
versatile.
 Punch cards were still used for
the input purposes.

Examples

ETL Mark 3 Transistor based Transistor based Computer

Computer
Transistor based Computer

Third Generation of Computers

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 Five Generations of computers

Now it was time for silicon chips and integrated circuits, as they replaced
the transistors, they increased speed and efficiency of the computing machines. A
single IC contained thousands of transistors. These were first computing machines
with keyboards and monitors. They were also interfaced with an operating system.
This led these machines to run multiple
Era 1964-1971
applications and several programs at a
time.
These new additions made
these machines cheaper and smaller as
compared to the old ones. These new
computers were faster than ever. This
made a new mass market of users. IBM
370, IBM System/360, UNIVAC 1108 IBM 370
and UNIVAC AC 9000 were some of 3rd
generation computers.
Examples

An IBM PC
rd
3 Generation Computer An IC

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 Advantages Disadvantages
 They were smaller in size as  The technology required for making
compared to older generations ICs was highly sophisticated, so it was
and were more reliable. still hard to make them.
 They used less energy and  For cooling them down air
produced less heat conditioning was still required.
 They had better speed and data
calculation powers.
 They were totally general
purpose based.
 They had good storage and had
better accuracy of results.
 Now mouse and keyboard were
used for input.

Fourth Generation of Computers

 Intel made this revolution possible, the famous chip maker company
intel developed the intel 4004 chip in 1971, it positioned all computer components
such as CPU, memory, input and output
Era 1972-2010
controls onto a single chip. The first ever
home use designed computer was made by
IBM and in 1984 Apple introduced
MacIntosh. These microprocessors increased
the computing speed and power and made
them more user friendly and economical.
The power of these computers was
more increased by linked networking, which
ultimately led us to the development and
rapid evolution of modern-day internet.
Along with these advancements the Graphical
user interface and lap-top capability was also 4rth Gen Computer
introduced.
Advantages Disadvantages
 They were more powerful reliable as  For manufacturing of microprocessors
compared to previous generations. latest technology was required.
 They were small in size and didn’t
required cooling.
 This was cheapest generation as
compared to previous generations.
 They need less repair.

These computers had more advantages and less disadvantages, still they needed
improvements which are being made in form of fifth generation.

They had more advantages and less disadvantages.

 Examples

A core I3 4rth Gen Computer

Surface Book Laptop Intel 4004 Chip

From Pentium one to core i7 they have changed a

lot!

Fifth Generation of Computers

Era: present to future

 Scientists are working hard to integrate artificial intelligence
to computers, but this technology is still emerging.AI will increase the processing
power of computers and it will help to transform modern computing into quantum
computing. This will also lead us to make advancements in field of molecular and
Nano technologies.
These modern computers will have power of processing and responding in natural
language and will have power to learn and organize themselves. IBM Watson
computer is one of example of AI powered computers.
Fifth Gen Computers will have more advantages and they will revolutionize
medical and other fields and make our life easier. They will help us to make
automatic cars, medical systems and automatic traffic systems.

Hopping for a future of AI that will revolutionize our lives!